Chimera: REMASTERED
by Esherymack
Summary: Edward Elric is a chimera, being hunted by a notorious hunter from a secluded society known as Societatem Venatores. As he dives deeper and deeper into the dark world of the hunter society, he will discover more secrets about chimera, about his heritage- and about himself. This is a REWRITE of an old story of mine, called Chimera. Rated for language, blood, violence. NO YAOI.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: So, my writing improved- _a lot. _That's why I'm deciding to re-write this, since… y'know, it totally sucked last time around. I'm leaving the old one up, though, sorta for two reasons: I don't like deleting stories, and I figure I'd like to see how much I've improved with my own eyes.

As with many rewrites, the summary is totally changing. It used to be that Ed was always running from Scar while Scar simultaneously murdered his friends. This time… there's going to be a _society _of Chimera hunters, and Ed's gonna find out about it (and why he's such a hot target for them) after Scar kills only a _few _of his friends and indirect family. I feel like this will be much better for my infamous cliffhangers, as well as more fun to write than pointless drabbling of Ed chatting himself up with angsty goodness.

As said in the previous version (and for those of you who are new to this story,) Edward Elric is now a falcon chimera. His wingspan is about 15 feet and 4 inches (which would be the approximate minimum size to be able to support Ed in flight—sorry for my nerdiness, I'm just trying to be realistic). Also, his wings are dark, chocolate brown, along with white and red feathers. His eyes shift from pure-looking, light gold all the way to crystalline blue. If they're very light gold, he's fairly calm, 'normal-Ed,' I should say. The darker they get, the worse his temper is, and if they turn into the light blue, he's either pissed or deeply upset or some extreme emotion other than happiness or joy. Negative emotions, I suppose.

Scar himself is a chimera hunter that works under a society known as _Societatem Venatores_, which is rough latin for "Society of the Hunters," or "Hunter's Society." A bit bland in translation, but admit it—**EVERYTHING **sounds **100% **cooler in Latin.

Disclaimer: FMA belongs to the one and only Hiromu Arakawa—I just write the fan fiction.

* * *

_Edward, run._

Ed ran.

_This guy's getting close. Use your wings, dimwit. Fly!_

Ed scowled at the falcon before he snapped his wings open and caught the air in between the next two buildings. The unusual pattern of his wings—dark, warm brown, with creamy white streaks and dark burgundy accents, which were invisible while the wings were folded—caused the hulk chasing him to grind to a halt.

The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, black book with a silver insignia on the leather cover. He flipped through it, and eventually found what he was looking for. It would appear to a normal person as a normal passport profile—complete with picture—but to the hunter, named Scar, it was a gold mine of information.

_**Edward Elric, 16 years of age**_

_Chimera—created by the Assay. Fused with a falcon. Can fly efficiently. Also skilled in use of alchemy and with spears. _

_Beware, has ties to the Amestrian military. On the Societatem Venatores most-wanted list._

Scar skimmed the lengthy, tiny text.

_Family of unknown size, but definite brother and possible sister._* _Only known caretakers are of military origin._

Scar shrugged. _"So it's a kid that we want to kill. What's so special about him."_

_Was known previously as Fullmetal Alchemist. _

_Wanted for his knowledge of the Homunculi and the Philosopher's Stone._

This small fact piqued Scar's interest. Anything having to do with Philosopher's Stone was desperately sought by the society, and Scar could make a fortune in bounty off of the kid.

He moved his thumb from the price on the kid's head.

_The Societatem Venatores is willing to pay whatever price requested by the hunter who captures this chimera._

"Feeling generous, eh?" Scar mused before tucking the book back into his pocket and checking the bullets in his gun. The kid was long gone, but Scar vowed that he would find the chimera—now known to him as Edward—and bring it in.

* * *

Ed scowled and turned. The guy obviously couldn't fly—so why was he so shaken by the incident?

_He was a hunter._

"He was a what?" Ed said aloud. His wings beat a steady thrum in the air, causing civilians on the street below him to look up. One little girl waved, and Ed reflexively waved back.

_A hunter. In this world, there are groups—whole religions—for those who seek to rid the world of the supernatural. Ghost-hunters. Dragon-tamers. _

_Chimera hunters._

Ed felt a tremble roll through him.

"_You think he was a… chimera hunter?" _The words seemed strange and hard to say, even in his mind.

_I don't think. I know. Did you see that book that he pulled out?_

"_Yeah… what about it? I just assumed it was a normal psychopath journal," _Ed thought back in his usual snarky manner.

_This is no laughing matter! It might not be my body any more, but I don't want to lose my host, _the falcon snapped in reply. _It had a sigil on it. That means that it was a logbook belonging to a bounty hunter from a whole society. They must keep track of their soon-to-be targets. _

"_So what do you expect me to do!" _Ed hissed.

_I'm not the one with military ties, _said the falcon. It was the one who sounded snarky this time.

Ed rolled his eyes and took off in the direction of Eastern Command, to shake the attention and the uneasy feeling both. Being picked on by Mustang would probably make Ed forget the whole incident.

He hoped so, at least. The Colonel had an uncanny way of telling when something was bothering Ed.

* * *

As usual, the window had been left unlocked, as Ed's report was expected today. "Good to see you're still in one piece, Ed," the colonel drawled. Ed shrugged and rearranged his wings before he collapsed onto the end of the sofa with a tired huff.

"So, your report?"

Ed dug around in his coat for a minute before he pulled out a light gray folder. He tossed it at the wooden desk before leaning back and closing his eyes.

"Something bothering you? Something that you… _hmm,_ didn't bother to put in your report?"

Ed sat up. "N-no, nothing's bothering me!"

"You stuttered. Tell me, now."

Ed hung his head. "Why do you always do that…"

"You have ten seconds before I call Hawkeye in here."

Ed stood up and dropped his fisted hands onto the desk in front of the Flame Alchemist. "Mustang, what do you know about hunter societies?"

"Hunter societies? Not much, except for that there's a lot of them that are really good at playing hide and seek. Why are you asking?"

"No reason… just something the falcon said…"

"No reason? None at all?"

Ed rubbed his eye. "I… I was chased, earlier. Big, tan guy wearing a hood and glasses. He had a gun, too. Right when I got in the air, he just stopped and pulled out this book with a silver seal on the cover. Falcon said it was a society insignia."

Mustang narrowed his eyes. "And you were planning on hiding this from me? Ed, a hunter chasing you is serious military business. It would seem to me that one of these societies has you in the crosshairs."

"No, Mustang, wait-"

"We're doubling your security, and you're gonna get a curfew. Don't even _think _about running away like you did with Lab 5, or you _will _answer to Grumman."

"But—"

"No buts. Now get home to Alphonse, and you're bringing a military escort with you."

"Must—"

"_Go._"

"Yes, sir," Ed grumbled. Breda and Falman trailed after him on his way out the door.

* * *

A/N: So, compare it to the last first chapter, and tell me how it went? :3

*Referring to the Society thinking that Winry could possibly be Ed's sister. She's not, obviously


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Booooooored. Insomniaaaaaaaaaaa. Sleeeeeeeeep. Y u no come to meeeeeeeeee.

*dies*

Disclaimer: FMA belongs to Katsura Hoshino; I just write the fanfics.

* * *

"_Do you think we really need guards?"_

_Yes. Stop asking me._

"_Do you think I could ditch them?"_

_Do it, and I'll give you a headache to remember. Count on it. _

Edward rubbed his temples and glared at Breda, who had raided his fridge.

"_Who cares. It's not like anything __**bad **__will happen, and even if it does, Mustang was totally just bluffing about Grumman. He's too soft on me."_

_You have no idea how much your sanity worries me._

"_Hey!"_

_Sorry, I meant your *lack* of sanity._

Ed gave Falman and Breda a sideways stare. "I'm… uh, I've got to… I'm gonna go take a nap," he said. Falman nodded lazily before he leaned back in his seat, the day's paper in front of him. Breda was still eating.

"_Seriously? Mustang expects them to guard me efficiently?"_

_As far as things in the military seem to go, everyone but Mustang's gang seems to think that you're nothing but collateral damage. Breda and Falman were probably all that Mustang could spare without any of his superiors getting mad._

Ed scowled and locked the door. As a safeguard, he also changed the lock with alchemy, so that any keys wouldn't fit.

He also alchemized the rest of the door to the wall (which wasn't easy with two guards right outside of it) and stuffed a chair under the nearly destroyed knob.

_Don't you think that's a bit too much?_

"_Always better to be safe than sorry~" _Ed sing-songed.

_Hypocrite._

* * *

Ed had learned long ago that one of many perks of having wings was being able to safely escape from his third-story bedroom. A major downside was that fitting his ridiculously gigantic wings through the tiny window would often cause unnecessary commotion.

It was in this unnecessary commotion that Ed drew the rather _unfortunate _attention of Scar. As soon as he alighted on the rooftop, the hunter grabbed him, pinning his arms down and slamming him onto the slated rooftop.

"What the—_you!_"

"The Societatem Venaores are going to be very pleased with me," the man growled.

"Who are you… why do you want me!" Ed pleaded, trying to breathe around the giant hand on his neck.

"The Philosopher's Stone… the Homunculi… you know all about them."

"Yeah… s-so?" There were black dots swimming in front of Ed's eyes now.

_Come on, get up! You're stronger than this! _the Falcon cried.

Ed writhed and pulled his left arm free. He slammed his fist into the hunter's face and scrambled away. The hunter swore and grabbed at him, catching his long, golden braid. Ed yelped as he was dragged back towards the hunter, and then his wing was stepped on. Pain flared and several bones cracked with a loud _crunch _under the man's foot. Ed swung around and slammed his foot into the right side of the offending man and ran.

Despite having a broken wing, Edward was able to manage an unsteady glide to the ground. His brother—Alphonse—and his guards were already there, and Al practically tackled Ed. "Brother, you were trying to sneak out again! And look what happened!"

Ed closed his eyes.

_Better be safe than sorry, eh?_

"_Shut up."_

* * *

"You did _what!?"_

"I… tried to sneak out… again…"

Edward had (unwillingly) been brought before Mustang (again). "Listen, Mustang, I'm really, _really _sorry, so I'm just gonna—"

Mustang grabbed Ed by the front of his shirt and threw him back down on the couch. "You tried to sneak out, and you could've been _killed, _Edward. Is that what you want? To be killed?"

Ed turned away. "N-no," he admitted. "Can I go now?"

Mustang growled at him. "_No._ In fact, I think that you should stay here the rest of the day, where you can be carefully guarded by all of us."

"But—"

"Are you really going to argue with me, Edward?"

Ed shrank back into the couch. "Here's nice, too… I guess…" he grumbled.

* * *

A/n: I'm sorry it's short XD Writer's block. Y'gotta hate it.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Wheeee, update day! I'm home sick today (some sort of awful cold-flu-sinus infection combo that has me DYING *_*), so I have lots of time to watch _Breaking Bad_, update, and cough up snot. Fun times, fun times~

I'm planning on updating this (being Chimera: REMASTERED), Vampire, A Year, and possibly writing a one shot today. Hopefully that'll get done and be out of the way, to tide y'all over for a bit :L

Derp derp derp I have writer's block, sorry for poor writing XD

Disclaimer: Chimera is wholeheartedly my idea, but Fullmetal Alchemist is not mine. The genius behind that is Hiromu Arakawa.

* * *

The day passed largely uneventfully.

Edward's wing had been splinted and bandaged, and later in the afternoon, Mustang had sent him back home with more soldiers than desk workers—there were a total of ten. Two would be placed outside of the main entrance and two would be stationed on the rooftop. Another pair would be outside of the apartment door, and two more would be stationed outside of Edward's room. The last two would be placed on the fire escape just outside of Ed's window, ensuring that Ed wouldn't escape and that Scar (or any other hunter, for that matter) could not get in.

* * *

_Scar smirked. They thought that they could keep him, the most prestigious hunter of the Societatem Venatores, out of that tiny building with only ten soldiers._

_No doubt the soldiers had been told what he looked like—tall, bulky, and tan, with red eyes and a hood. He was armed with only one visible gun—in reality, he had three pistols and two boot knives, but it's not as if they needed to know that—and he was after the chimera brat. _

_Every movement he made was fluid and precise—a jab here, a sharp blow here—and the two rooftop guards lay dead at his feet, blood beginning to pool around the one with the slit throat. Scar stepped out of the way of the spreading liquid, to avoid getting it on his shoes._

* * *

Edward looked up from his book. Alphonse lay sprawled on the floor, the dishes he'd been carrying broken on the ground before him. Ed smirked at his brother's clumsiness before he tucked a feather in between the pages of the book and knelt to help pick up the mess.

* * *

_The two guards at the front door were harder to deal with. Being out in the open, there was a high chance that someone would see him kill them._

_Scar scanned the street below quickly, waiting for two cars to pass before he bellied over the edge of the building and grasped the pipeline leading to the ground. He used the pipe to shimmy silently down the building, just out of the line of sight of the two soldier guards._

_Another car roared past. Scar froze, let it pass, and swung around the corner. He grabbed both soldiers by their necks and dragged them to the alleyway, where he snapped their bones and let them die, slouched amongst the garbage._

_Four down, six more to handle._

* * *

One of the soldiers peeked around the corner where he was stationed by Edward's room. "Is everything okay there, sir?" he inquired, a stoic expression on his face.

"Yeah, everything's cool," Ed replied, shifting a few shards of ceramic around in his grasp to avoid cutting himself on the sharp corners. They clinked together delicately, like a wind chime. Using his other hand, Ed helped Alphonse up, giving his brother a crooked grin.

* * *

_Window guards next. _

_The fire escape was easy enough to find. Scar pulled his hood over his head and crept up the cast iron stairs, sticking close to the wall, where they were less likely to creak. _

_Scar pulled two poisonous darts out of a small pouch belted to his waist. He paused a mere second, gathering his energy, before he leaped forward and stuck both guards at once. They stared at him and gaped silently, opening and closing their mouths like fish out of the water before they dropped. They weren't dead yet, but knocked out. The poison would more than likely kill them before he was finished his job._

* * *

"Brother, did you hear something?" Alphonse said to the silence that had taken over the room.

"No, why?"

"Nothing, just thought I did…"

* * *

_The window was locked, but it slid open with ease after Scar took a boot knife and slid it in between the two panes on the window. With a twist, he snapped the lock._

_The room that he entered was dimly lit by the moonlight. It was arranged in the annoying, organized-yet-filthy manner that was so common for teenagers. _

_The hardest part was now. Scar gripped the doorknob in his large hand._

* * *

"Brother, when do you think—"

Alphonse was cut off by a sudden shout in the hallway. "Bro—"

"Alphonse, _move!_" Edward snapped, grabbing his brother and throwing him behind him. Scar rounded the corner, fresh blood gracing his features. Ed picked up one of the shards of plate and transmuted it into a barbed spike, which he pelted at the chimera hunter. Scar hesitated and twisted, barely dodging the projectile.

Edward had already made another, which he proceeded to fling at Scar during his hesitation. Scar was struck by the spike directly in his shoulder. He grimaced and gritted his teeth in pain, before he pulled his other boot knife out and whipped it at Ed.

"Alphonse, get out of here!" Ed shouted at his brother. Alphonse hesitated. "_Go!_" The other boy scrambled to his feet, running out into the hallway that Scar had come from. The door at the end of the hallway was ajar, as well as the one to Ed's bedroom. Both sets of guards were dead.

Alphonse ran past the dead guards out in the hallway.

* * *

Scar's thrown knife dug into Edward's shoulder with such a force that he fell backwards. Scar jumped forward and grabbed Ed by his neck, throwing him up against the wall. "Now I have you…" he snarled.

Edward struggled for a mere moment before Scar struck him on the head, knocking him out.

* * *

A/N: Dramaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa 


End file.
